


Day 333

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [333]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:08:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27791305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [333]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 1





	Day 333

Hawke finished reinforcing the Alienage gate with a wall of ice and staggered backwards, exhausted from the effort. He reached into his bag for a mana potion but all he had left were elfroot potions and an elixir of purity he had been carrying around for the past two years ‘just in case.’ He could hear the angry voices of the mob on the other side trying to burn or break the massive gate.

Hawke had a horrible feeling that this would be a never ending cycle for him. From the Qunari attack to the riots that followed to the incident he had caused and now this. The elves were under constant assault from the rest of the city. This time it seemed the templars were actively encouraging the mob. Using them to force the elves to accept an aggressive search of the Alienage for meleficar. He supposed his presence here wasn’t helping their case but the elves had very little means to defend themselves.

If they took up arms against the mob Aveline would be forced to confiscate their weapons and if they fought the templars directly… who could say what Meredith was capable of. Hawke had been very careful to only cast spells that would prevent the templars from entering the Alienage. He doubted he would be allowed to walk free after this, even if he was Kirkwall’s Champion, but as long as he could check the templar’s power he didn’t care. Noll was busy making sure that if the templars did make it inside, they would find no apostates inside. Hawke purposely kept out of that respect, he didn’t want to out anybody by accident.

Brennan and her Alienage guards had been as his side throughout most of the day. Every few hours an especially eager human would climb over a building and into the Alienage square and the guards had set up a makeshift prison to hold them all.

“Where in the void is Aveline?” Hawke demanded as Brennan rushed forwards to steady Hawke. He was close to collapsing from the effort of holding the gate single handedly. A few of the templars had tried to suppress his magic but his will was far stronger than theirs.

“We sent word,” Brennan replied. “But I don’t know if the runner made it through the mob. But she can't have missed the commotion everyone’s causing.”

Hawk was hit by the sudden stench of raw sewage and almost collapsed all over again. Brennan almost dropped him at the unexpected weight shift and Hawke could see her suppressing a gag.

“Is that… me?” Hawke asked self-consciously sniffing his armpit. It smelled of several kinds of sweat but not sewage.

“It’s probably me.”

Hawke turned to see Anders approaching from one of the back alleys of the Alienage. His coat looked far more bedraggled than normal and there were some new stain Hawke didn’t want to contemplate too closely. The mage waved his hand and Hawk felt some of his strength returning to his body. Brennan left him to stand on his own and, after a quick node to the Warden, went off to organize her troops.

“How did you get in here?” Hawke asked.

“You’ll be happier not knowing,” Anders replied. “I spoke with Aveline.” From his tone the conversation didn’t go well. “She said that Meredith is on the verge of declaring herself the de facto ruler of Kirkwall and marching an army of templars down here. Aveline is worried that if the guard side with the elves, Meredith will consider them enemies of the city… she also said that if the elves can’t bring themselves to respect the rule of law, the law can’t protect them.”

Hawke looked up at the sunset and massaged his temples. This had been, without a doubt the worst year of his life. His mother’s death, the deterioration of his relationships with Merrill and Isabella, having to kill the Arishok because Aveline refused to hold her guards accountable for their actions. The number of people Hawke trusted completely was down to just Varric, Anders and Bodahn now and he didn’t know what he would do if any of them betrayed him.

Hawke didn’t believe Aveline was a bad person but she was running the guard like an army, and an army needed an enemy to fight. The elves of Kirkwall had become that enemy somewhere along the way when they had refused to lie down and let the guards trample over them. Much like the templars had over the past thousand years.

Aveline was an immutable object. When she set her feet nothing could move her. But Hawke knew he had to save his friend from the path she was on before it destroyed what was left of his city.

“Show me the drain you crawled through to get in here,” Hawke said to Anders. “I need to have a word with Aveline.”


End file.
